How Should One Read a Book? 如何读书?

By Virginia Woolf

It is simple enough to say that since books have classes——fiction，biography，poetry——we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us.

书既然有小说，传记，诗歌之分，就应区别对待，从各类书中取其应该给及我们的东西。这话说来很简单。

Yet few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds，asking of fiction that it shall be true，of poetry that it shall be false，of biography that it shall be flattering，of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read，that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author;Try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If you hang back，and reserve and criticize at first，you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible，the signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness，from the twist and turn of the first sentences，will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this，acquaint yourself with this，and soon you will find that your author is giving you，or attempting to give you，something far more definite.

然而很少有人向书索取它能给我们的东西，我们拿起书来往往怀着模糊而又杂乱的想法，要求小说是真是的，诗歌是虚假的，传记要吹捧，史书能加强我们自己的偏见。读书时如能抛开这些先入为主之见，便是极好的开端。不要对作者指手画脚，而要尽力与作者融为一体，共同创作，共同策划。如果你不参与，不投入，而且一开始就百般挑剔，那你就无缘从书中获得最大的益处。你若敞开心扉，虚怀若谷，那么，书中精细入微的寓意和暗示便会把你从一开头就碰上的那些像是山回水转般的句子中带出来，走到一个独特的人物面前。钻进去熟悉它，你很快就会发现，作者展示给你的或想要展示给你的是一些比原先要明确得多的东西。不妨闲来谈谈如何读小说吧。